Weighted wacky rig set up advice

[pauldconyers]

I’ve been wanting to play around with a weighted wacky rig set up on my spinning rod. Probably going to use a 5 or 6 inch Senko or similar stick bait. Anyone got a specific model/size wacky head and hook setup they would recommend for this venture?

[A-Jay]

Don't do a ton of weighted wacky fishing but . . .

 

For light line / open water applications - I like the Gamakatsu G-Finesse Series Wacky Jig Head 

 

For heavier line / moderate cover applications - I like the Revenge Flippin Wacker head.

 

A-Jay

[Drew03cmc]

For a senko? No weight. They're already HEAVY. I go weighted (1/16) for finesse worms or flick shakes.

[pauldconyers]

6 minutes ago, Drew03cmc said:

For a senko? No weight. They're already HEAVY. I go weighted (1/16) for finesse worms or flick shakes.

Doesn't have to be a senko, just that style of bait wacky rigged

[Drew03cmc]

Any of those cigar worms are very heavy and don't require a weight.

[tcbass]

For this I just like to take a regular wacky rigged Senko and put a small nail in one end.

[Brad in Texas]

Yes, alluded to up above about not weighting a Senko on a Wacky rig, some background.

 

The thought here for most of us is the selling point of the wacky rigging is: a slower fall rate, horizontal dying/injured bait orientation; then, the Senko: the one-of-a-kind little shimmer it creates as it fall through the water column. So, weighting it down is sort of antithetical.

 

But, fish might like it somewhere between slow and fast, horizontal and vertical. So, for the latter, we nail-weight one end of the plastic we use . . . and we call the rig by another name. 

 

Same on the weighted wacky hook issue and I actually like a particular wacky head in its lightest available weighting, 1/16th. While there are many out there including fine names like Owner, for me the gold standard is a Zappu Inchi Wacky Head. I have used them with and without weed guards but on re-orders I now just buy them without. For whatever reason, I think the orientation of the hook point is most likely responsible, I rarely get snagged with these.

 

Absolutely top quality, a bit pricey, but these will give you just a tiny bit of weight to drag plastics down at just a bit faster pace.

 

Brad

[John Tom]

Really If you want to do a "redneck" Carolina Rig. Take a 3/8 size slide it up about 10-12 iches from the hook and it does the same as buy a wacky weight hook. Save some $$$. 

[Darren.]

I don't agree that stick baits don't need weight...

However, I mostly throw them weightless. Except 

when there's a lot of wind and chop on the water.

Bait doesn't tend to go down quickly enough in

those conditions, let alone stay where you want it

to drop. That's my experience.

 

You can spend a lot on weighted jigs. I've used a lot

but I have a hard time spending some of the prices

for a pack of 3. So I bought some cheaper jigs from

BPS and tied my own weedguards. I believe they

use Gamakatsu hooks and I've never broken one.

 

That said, I love the Buckeye Flick-It jigs with a football

head. Those are sweet, have a wire weed guard that

does a good job.

[sully420]

I just use a splitshot  sinker and a vmc wackey hook.

[Mbirdsley]

14 minutes ago, sully420 said:

I just use a split **** sinkes and a vmc wackey hook.

I was thinking about that the other day.  A person could clamp the split shot right on the hook just below the eye.  Boom red neck weighted wacky rig.  Just like the expensive ones.

[ww2farmer]

All my wacky rigs are weighted. I haven't fished an unweighted one in years. With that statement out of the way let me say this.....if your going to fish weighted wacky rigs, Senkos are a waste of money. Senkos shine unweighted, Yum Dingers, and other less dense stick baits (like the SK Ocho) are where it's at for weighted wacky rigged sticks.

 

Here is my "system":

 

4" + 5" Dingers, 4" + 6" straight worms get fished on a light wire 1/16th oz VMC wacky head (1/8th oz if windy, or I am in deeper water), a 6'8" Custom built M/XF action spinning rod, 2500 size reel, 10lb braid, 8lb FC leader. This rod is rigged up like this the entire season, never gets changed, never gets rotated in and out of the boat, and is almost always on the deck ready to go. It's on of my most used techniques, and one I enjoy fishing so I felt the need to have a nice, fancy, expensive custom built rod made for it.

 

 I also "power wacky" fish a lot with 5" + 6" Dingers, "big" straight worms (like the SK bull worm, etc...). They get fished on a heavy wire hook 1/16th oz. Revenge "flippin whackers" head (and much like the light wire VMC's, I'll bump up to 1/8th if needed for conditions). I use a 7' MH/F custom built casting rod, a 7.3:1 reel, 30lb braid, with a 12, 15, 17, or even 20lb leader deending on cover. This is also one of my bread and butter techniques, so, again, I had a custom built rod made for it. It spends less time on the deck than the spinning version, and sometime gets used for other stuff though. 

 

I have won and cashed in more tournaments wacky rigging than almost everything else combined, with flipping, drop shotting, and frogging, coming in 3rd, 4th, and 5th probably. So I must be doing something right with these weighted wacky rigs despite the internet experts saying you don't "need" to add weight to a wacky rig.

[jtharris3]

1 hour ago, ww2farmer said:

All my wacky rigs are weighted. I haven't fished an unweighted one in years. With that statement out of the way let me say this.....if your going to fish weighted wacky rigs, Senkos are a waste of money. Senkos shine unweighted, Yum Dingers, and other less dense stick baits (like the SK Ocho) are where it's at for weighted wacky rigged sticks.

 

Here is my "system":

 

4" + 5" Dingers, 4" + 6" straight worms get fished on a light wire 1/16th oz VMC wacky head (1/8th oz if windy, or I am in deeper water), a 6'8" Custom built M/XF action spinning rod, 2500 size reel, 10lb braid, 8lb FC leader. This rod is rigged up like this the entire season, never gets changed, never gets rotated in and out of the boat, and is almost always on the deck ready to go. It's on of my most used techniques, and one I enjoy fishing so I felt the need to have a nice, fancy, expensive custom built rod made for it.

 

 I also "power wacky" fish a lot with 5" + 6" Dingers, "big" straight worms (like the SK bull worm, etc...). They get fished on a heavy wire hook 1/16th oz. Revenge "flippin whackers" head (and much like the light wire VMC's, I'll bump up to 1/8th if needed for conditions). I use a 7' MH/F custom built casting rod, a 7.3:1 reel, 30lb braid, with a 12, 15, 17, or even 20lb leader deending on cover. This is also one of my bread and butter techniques, so, again, I had a custom built rod made for it. It spends less time on the deck than the spinning version, and sometime gets used for other stuff though. 

 

I have won and cashed in more tournaments wacky rigging than almost everything else combined, with flipping, drop shotting, and frogging, coming in 3rd, 4th, and 5th probably. So I must be doing something right with these weighted wacky rigs despite the internet experts saying you don't "need" to add weight to a wacky rig.

 

What size hook do you use on the Revenge Whackers?

[Airman4754]

Weight requirements are dependent on depth and wind. If you're on a point fishing for spots and they are holding in 60' of water and the wind is blowing 15mph you need weight. 

 

Any of the jig heads made for it will work fine. It's lead on an open hook. Don't complicate it.

[ww2farmer]

46 minutes ago, jtharris3 said:

 

What size hook do you use on the Revenge Whackers?

2/0 exclusively, and I go K.I.S.S with color, black only. I bought the 1/0 once, and found it too small for 6" baits, but the 2/0 works well with both 5" + 6". I rarely use 4" on casting gear, that's more of a spinning rod deal/light wire hook wacky jig thing for me, so I had no use for the 1/0 in that head.

[BassThumb]

Seibert's 1/8oz tungsten wacky jigs are a winner. Put an o-ring around a cheaper Senko-style lure and hook the jig through the o-ring. I reserve the Yamamoto Senkos for weightless, that's when they shine.

[jtharris3]

1 hour ago, ww2farmer said:

2/0 exclusively, and I go K.I.S.S with color, black only. I bought the 1/0 once, and found it too small for 6" baits, but the 2/0 works well with both 5" + 6". I rarely use 4" on casting gear, that's more of a spinning rod deal/light wire hook wacky jig thing for me, so I had no use for the 1/0 in that head.

 

Thanks! ?

[pauldconyers]

Do you guys mostly use a wacky rig on a spinning rod or a baitcast? Another question I had about wacky rigging is the presentation. Do you normally target specific areas and jig around a bit in that area then bring it back in quickly to hit another spot or do you throw it out and slowly work it back to the boat?

[ww2farmer]

If you read my post, you'll see that I throw them on both casting and spinning.

 

I target specific things with them. Dock posts, holes in weeds beds, skipped up under docks into shaded areas, along side and in lay downs, etc...It can also be a fast way to cover water on a long deep weed line. I pitch it out, let it do it's thing sinking on slack line, let it sit on the bottom a couple seconds, give a few twitches and reel it up and pitch it again a couple feet from the last pitch. That's just my way of fishing them, YMMV.

[B_Rose12]

I recently tried some of the Owner weighted Wacky Hooks, 1/16oz and 1/8oz. Had better luck with the 1/8oz. I always put two o-rings on and cross them over and put the hook between the o-rings. I really liked the Owner because of the hook bend and the weed guard is always nice. I try to target lay downs and docks, if I ever got hung up the hook would just bend straight.

[Brad in Texas]

So much good advice shared above! The gist of what the weighting, with or without, is all about is simply assisting the wacky worm to get to the place where the fish are. If the fish are biting at the bottom, the last thing you want is to lose time letting your unweighted worm fall through the water . . . slowly. But, if bass are biting just seconds after "splash down," it means they are feeding higher up in the water column and the last thing you want to do is add weight and pull it by them too fast falling through the bite zone. 

 

The real conundrum often occurs when the fish are up but so is the wind and current; so, you have to figure out the right weighting to defeat the weather obstacles but not so much as to fish the wrong depth. Experience, here, makes all the difference. Well, that and tackle options. Anyway, nothing worse than tossing out a wacky rig in strong wind and see it blow away, carried off by wind and currents, from your target area.

 

I think my favorite wacky bite is the one where I toss my rig out and it gets hit within several feet of the surface just seconds later. When I find that circumstance, I usually find a lot of hungry, aggressive fish. This would be the occasion for the magic of a Senko, weightless, weather permitting.

 

Brad

[bassin is addicting]

1/16, 1/8

Gamakatsu G-finesse wacky

expensive but are worth it

[NHBull]

Today, the unweighted wacky hit 8/1 over lightly weighted and Trig on a 2/0 owner moskito

[FishDewd]

I have some in like a 1/16 oz that I've used with small finesse worms and even TRDs. The TRDs respond pretty well rigged like that, I've caught a few running that kind of set-up. Whether I want it weighted depends upon how buoyant (or not) the plastic is. I don't fish this rig too often though cause of snags, but I've had good results when I have.

[pauldconyers]

Well here is the question I have then. Let's say your electronics show there are fish suspended at a certain depth and for whatever reasons you feel a wacky rig is the way to go. At what depth (and below) would you feel it makes sense to get the bait down there sooner and possibly give up a little bit of it's action?